


Meet Me In The Woods

by noirchime



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gamzee is a good moirail, M/M, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Quadrant Vacillation, Schizophrenic Gamzee, Three chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-20 13:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6009067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noirchime/pseuds/noirchime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Of picnics and memories, of turmoil and of calm.</em><br/>  </p><p>The trolls explore the human holiday of Valentine's day in their own way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bite Marks

**Author's Note:**

> karkat is very angry and vv smol

God fucking dammit was Karkat pissed off. Not that that was new, but today he was in one of his worse moods. Not a good enough metaphor _existed_ to describe how much he wanted to scream at that moment. Usually Gamzee was enough to placate the small redblood, but the highblood had in fact been the cause of his little predicament.

Karkat had a hickey. Right in the middle of his fucking neck. Bold and tinged red, it stood out against his clammy grey skin. Of course he had to pity the schizophrenic mess who also _just happened_  to be a powerful highblood with absolutely, unnecessarily huge fangs. God damn that clown and his huge ass fucking fangs.

Just as Karkat decided that he had had enough Gamzee for a whole lifetime, the highblood in question entered the room. He could tell just by the smell that he had been eating pie.  
“Did you plan on sharing any of that pie with me, shitpan?”  
“Chill, Karbro. How ya holdin’ up from yesterday?”  
Karkat turned a violent shade of red and began fidgeting with the hems of his oversized sweater.  
“Thanks to you, I am quite literally fucked over. What will the others start to  _assume_ , Gamzee?!” Karkat yelled, even though what they would assume admittedly did hold more than an iota of a degree of truth. In addition, it wasn't just the mark itself, but the colour that he had believed would doom him to an early, gruelling, embarrassingly pathetic death for almost his entire span. Dwelling on this, he avoided Gamzee’s deep purple eyes by staring intently at the floor.

“..Don't quite got my wicked understand on, bro,” Gamzee replied. He furrowed his brow and tilted his head to the side in a way that made his mass of dark curls flop ever so slightly, and it made Karkat’s heart melt. He wanted to be sick.

“Oh my jegus, Gamzee. Just get the fuck over here before I die of fucking embarrassment.” Karkat snapped, watching as Gamzee made his way over to the couch where Karkat sat curled up into one of the cushions.

He sighed and lifted a clawed hand to his sweater, which was currently pulled up so that his neck was hidden. He scrunched his eyes shut and pulled the fabric down, revealing the mark in all its glory. He opened one eye to see his matesprit grinning his stupidly wide grin and grabbed him by the arm.  
“Fuck you. How am I supposed to walk around in public with this on my neck? It’s like saying ‘Hey, I’m Karkat Vantas, AND I JUST FUCKED MY BEST FRIEND.”  
Gamzee smiled calmly and slowly lifted his arm to Karkat’s rubying cheeks.  
“Sh, Karbro, we’ll fix this up, alright? You just sit your fine ass here and wait.”

Karkat didn’t know whether to scream or groan when Gamzee came back into the room holding the phone.  
“Kar, got our fishy brother on the line, get in the car and you’ll be all fixed up in no time.”  
Karkat grabbed Gamzee by his shirt and stood embarrassingly high on his tiptoes to face him.  
“YOU DIDN’T TELL HIM, DID YOU? OH FUCK GAMZEE, IF THAT FUCKING PRICK FOUND OUT-“  
Karkat was interrupted by a swift kiss to his forehead.  
“Brother, he be all up and not knowin’. Told him some other story ‘bout some other thing.”  
Karkat had never been more grateful for Gamzee’s scarily pronounced ability to read people like the shitty paperback rom-coms that lined their shelves.

He had always found it intriguing (if not absolutely fucking terrifying) that Gamzee was so intuitive. The guy was a dumbass, but still very astute in some areas of knowledge that even the best of them lacked (not that Karkat cared to admit it). Luckily the side of Gamzee that Karkat wanted all to himself was hidden behind a fucking douchebag clown-worshipping fuck who was perpetually stoned.

 _What a way to describe your quadrantmate, Karkat. Wow. Real fucking sincere,_ the voice in his pan echoed.

Karkat knew why the others had been surprised when Gamzee and Karkat had become matesprits. They knew that the two shared an extremely close bond as moirails, but were unable to believe that he, Karkat Vantas, the pathetic fucking mutantblood with anger issues had grown to love the train wreck he called his best friend and lover.

Shoving all thoughts of troll romance aside, he leant up to kiss Gamzee once again.  
“Thank you, . Now let’s go.”


	2. Karkat's Predicament

As soon as they arrived at the hive that Sollux and Eridan inhabited together, Gamzee and Karkat were both a little nervous. Gamzee because he knew of Karkat’s tendency to blow up in people’s faces, and Karkat because _oh gog_ the things Eridan would do with the knowledge that Gamzee and he had pailed. Sure, the guy did a lot of it himself, having insanely good looks for suck a fucking pissbaby. Oh, and he was in a relationship with Sollux Captor.

It was painfully obvious that the two trolls had recently been engaged in exactly that as soon as Eridan opened the door with a clumsy swing of his arm, hastily fixing his hair as he peered out into the hallway. His hair stuck up at all angles, something Karkat knew to be an aftertaste of particularly interesting nights.

“Wwhy are you twwo out here at six in the morning? Can’t a guy get his dam sleep?”  
Karkat scowled at him.  
“Yeah, because from one look at that fucking hair I can tell you’ve been doing a lot of sleeping.”

Eridan's fins twitched defensively and he furiously combed a hand through his curls.  
“Just get in here so we can get on with whatevver you want.” He replied hastily, his accent slightly more pronounced in the early hours of the morning.

Like the absolute fucking cowardly bulgechafe he was, Karkat took hold of Gamzee’s hand as he entered, hoping and praying to every good romance film he knew that Eridan wouldn’t inquire about the hand he currently held over his neck.

“Tho, ED really was telling the truth when he thaid a couple of nerdth were in town.” Sollux laughed, his lisp evident in his voice.

“Shut your trap, Captor, I know you and your shitty matesprit have been all over each other recently,” Karkat jeered, flopping down onto the couch.

Sollux just smirked and made his way over to Eridan.  
“Yeah, more than you could athk for Vantas.” he gloated, leaning up to kiss Eridan’s fin.  
Eridan sighed and turned to the shorter troll.  
“Not noww, Sol.”  
Sollux grinned and leaned into his matesprit’s tall frame.  
“What do you two even want?” he asked, adjusting his fucking ridiculous glasses that Karkat absolutely loathed.

“Well, Solbro, we really gotta do something for poor Karbro over here. Y’see, this poor motherfucker's been awful busy, and well since today’s all special and that shit-

Eridan stifled a snort as he faced his fellow highblood.  
“He wwants to borrow somefin for Valentine’s day because the pair of you can’t plan ahead?” Eridan sneered, almost unable to believe his ears. Once he got the real story out of Karkat he'd be sure to tell Sol.

“Y-yes, fuck you, where do you keep everything?” Karkat grumbled, deciding that going along with Gamzee’s shitty lie was the best way to play it safe.

“Sol may have believed your carp but I ain't so easily fooled. Follow me, Vvantas.” Eridan beckoned, watching as Karkat promptly turned a violent shade of red and getting up from the lounge to head down the hallway.

When Karkat and Eridan emerged from the bedroom, Karkat adorned a rather oversized grey scarf- probably one Eridan didn’t wear often, by the bland look of it- and was scowling something furious.

“Gamzee, this was your addlepanned idea, so I'd appreciate some actual fucking input.” Karkat hissed, fiddling with the ends of the scarf. At least he didn’t have to hide his hickey with his hand like some nooksucking pansy.

“Hey, ok, Karbro, you look seven kinds of beautiful. That scarf gone and prettied up your eyes,” Gamzee replied, enveloping his crabby lover in a gentle hug. Karkat admittedly loved Gamzee’s hugs, and so leant in and snuggled up against him when he felt Gamzee’s arms around him.

“Hey, no getting thappy in our livingblock, thath our job.” Sollux joked, taking the moment to sneak a hand dangerously close to Eridan’s ass.  
“Could you get any hornier you kinky fuckin landdwweller?” Eridan remarked, but flushed lightly upon Sollux’s hand edging closer.

“Alright, we get it, we’ll fucking leave. See you at the human park, assholes. And don't run anyone over with the car, okay? Those things are dangerous,” Karkat grumbled, grabbing Gamzee’s hand and half-dragging the taller troll out the door. Gamzee had to duck to avoid the short doorway.

“Alright, now all that’s left is to survive this trialling hellfest of a meetup. You better’ve brought the damn gifts, Gamzee.” Karkat chided, reaching their car before the highblood.  
“’Course, Karbro. Can’t have my best bro all up and sad on a day like this, can I?” he said sweetly, leaning down to kiss Karkat fully.

Karkat melted into Gamzee’s lips as soon as they touched his own, wrapping his skinny arms around Gamzee’s middle.  
He took a moment to let Gamzee run his hands through his perpetually-messy hair before they broke the kiss, both aware that their friends were expecting them.  
“C’mon, Gamzee.”


	3. Where Human Customs Prevail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got long and very emotional very fast
> 
> Edit: The italics are messing up, apologies. Please inform me of any visible errors so that I can fix them.
> 
> Edit as of October: This is so old don't read it don't judge me I am dying because of how low the quality is omf g

When they reached the park (which Nepeta and Feferi had somehow decided would be the perfect location for a meetup), Karkat adjusted Eridan’s scarf meticulously, making sure it covered the great red mark on his neck. He hoped it at least looked half fucking good if he was to wear it for the next few days.

He looked up to realise that Gamzee was smiling down at him with a kind of contented, sloppy grin, holding out a hand for him to grab.  
“Let’s go see the others, Kar.”

The first to arrive had been Aradia and Kanaya, who were talking and undoubtedly trading sly remarks as they sat in the shade of a large tree. The two sat between large roots, quite possibly trying to plan ahead for the events of the ~~night~~ day. That still took some getting used to for everyone but Kanaya.

“Hey, Kanaya.” Karkat greeted, noting her extremely formal attire. Everyone seemed to be treating the picnic like some sort of ballistic chance to show off how well they were adapting to the new world.

“Oh! Hello Karkat.” She replied warmly, briefly shifting her emerald eyes from Aradia, who smiled coyly and waved in acknowledgement.

Gamzee sat cross-legged next to the pair with a contented sigh, beckoning for Karkat to join him.  
Karkat gave him a rare smile and curled up in Gamzee’s lap. He chirruped blissfully as he felt Gamzee’s long, adept fingers running through his hair and down his back.

It had only been about a minute since Karkat and Gamzee had sat down and the others were already beginning to arrive.

Vriska and Terezi had showed up together with a speaker courtesy of the humans, so of course the two had proceeded to climb high into the tree (an act of which was turned into a contest) and started to play strange, alien music from it.

From Vriska’s teasing snorts and Terezi’s cackling he could tell that they were probably being gut-wrenchingly sappy. _Way to fucking go._

Soon an excited gasp alerted him to Nepeta’s presence. She pounced on him without warning, earning a squeak of protest from her victim.

“Karkitty!! Me and Fefurry brought some snacks!” she exclaimed, proceeding to wrap her matesprit in a warm hug. Feferi smiled warmly and waved at the pair, a large, woven reed basket under her arm. She and Nepeta went back to the grass and began to set up the picnic.

The next to arrive were Equius and Tavros. Who even knew how Tavros had ended up arriving with Nepeta and her quadrantmates. Being a self-proclaimed romance expert, Karkat expected it was pitch. Tavros cast a small wave in Karkat’s direction and grinned.  
“Hey guys! Did we uh, show up at the right time?” he asked, taking Gamzee's nod and wistful smile as a cue to follow the others. Equius merely bid them hello and went with the brown-blood to help Feferi and his moirail.

It seemed like troll romance had been working out in the group’s favour as of late, because every one of them had ended up with reasonably full quadrants and as the humans would put it, friends who supported them.

Karkat admittedly regretted wearing a thick black sweater in the heat of the midday sun, which was casting a bright glare from behind the clouds and basking the field in a golden light. It was still odd to be able to sit out in the sun without being scorched to death, but they had all been nagged by Kanaya until most were able to adjust to diurnal time. As for the location, they had chosen the field above all other possible locations (including the choice hits of Terezi’s roof and Tavros’ basement, _oh god_ ) because of the sheer breathtaking beauty of the grass field surrounded by huge, ancient overhanging trees and deep woods of pine trees. Apparently Rose and Kanaya often went there on dates.

Karkat couldn’t help but feel his anxiety lift slightly as he watched the others actually being competent and not murdering each other. The crease lines in his forehead had practically faded. Practically.

Finally, Sollux and Eridan showed up with the drinks, including Faygo (much to Gamzee’s delight) and some new human-troll combination alcohol. By the time the pair had arrived the rest of them were already sitting at the folding table and chairs Feferi had brought along.

Everyone seemed to be making pleasant conversation and getting more and more tipsy by the time it reached noon, which was the time they had allocated to gifts.

Finally, Aradia used one of her heavily manicured nails to tap at a glass, capturing everyone’s attention.  
“Everyone, it's time for the gifts."

Vriska and Terezi had both gone all-out in a competition of sorts for the best gift to each other, but were laughing hysterically at the fact that they had both managed to pick out the same thing- a human game called ‘Cards Against Humanity’. Nevertheless, they very nearly made out in front of everyone before Kanaya quietly cleared her throat. Karkat noticed that they kept giving each other strange smirks and grins as soon as they sat down.

Sollux and Eridan had graced their audience with a dramatic love-hate quarrel (were they trying to vacillate _now??_ ) before aggressively kissing and exchanging gifts. Eridan had bought Sollux an incredibly expensive new hard drive and Sollux had made him a brand-new professional camera.

Karkat almost felt his heart leap out of his fucking thoracic cavity when the others prompted him and Gamzee to exchange gifts. He could see the idiot clown himself shuffling towards him, something behind his back.  
_Oh fuck was he nervous._ And that was coming from Karkat Vantas. The sight of Gamzee dressed up in an elaborate white suit, with his curly hair combed back so that it didn’t hang in his eyes was almost too much for him. And _oh fuck,_ his eyes. Karkat could admit that Gamzee’s eyes were beautiful, but here he was with his eyes as deep and dazzlingly purple as the entire galaxy, the entire universe reflected in those two pools of deepest indigo, flecked in brilliant gold like some sort of troll pariah. Compared to his own sharp, red eyes, he could almost drown in those two deep pools of colour. Karkat was having trouble standing up at the sight of his quadrantmate.

“For you, Karbabe.” Gamzee prompted softly, handing him a large case.  
On the front it said ‘To My WoNdErFuL KaRkAt :o)’  
He nervously handed Gamzee his gift before proceeding to slip his own out of its case.

He almost dropped the fucking thing when he realised what it was.

A full-on portrait, (with a striking artistic style very uncharacteristic of an Alternian), of himself, gazing out the window in their respiteblock to the city beyond. He swore he could see the lights of the world reflected in his own eyes in the painting, and was awestruck by the detail Gamzee had managed to put into it.

“H-how-?” Karkat stuttered, feeling stupid fucking red tears well up in his eyes. His own Gamzee had probably spent months making this thing, night after night all for him. Since he had a shitty habit of crying when he was overwhelmed, he was unable to control the pale crimson tears that fell from his eyes. With a nubby-fanged grin he rushed up to his matesprit and jumped into his arms, feeling light-headed and happy as Gamzee lifted him up in a kiss. He held Karkat’s gift- a purple brush set that had reminded him of Gamzee- in his arms, and leant down in a shock of happiness to kiss the smaller troll.

“Gamzee..” he began, once Gamzee broke the kiss, but then noticed a small container lying on the floor. It glistened in the sunlight, and he walked over to pick it up. It had obviously fallen out of the painting’s case.  
“Karbro..” Gamzee whispered, trying to tell him something as Karkat studied the small tub of.. _concealer?_ He remembered the word from hearing Rose use it.

“Gamzee, what even? Concealer?” he questioned, but then felt his entire face flush red as he realised why he had included it as part of his gift.

He hadn’t even noticed Terezi and Vriska creeping up behind him as he stood dumbfounded, and jumped when he felt cool breath on his hair.  
“Vriska!! What ki-“ he choked as she pulled the scarf free of his neck. Karkat was too shocked to move as he watched Terezi kiss Vriska on the cheek.  
“I’m blind, not stupid. It didn’t take long to find out _just what_ you were hiding under that scarf!” she laughed, putting an arm around Vriska as the table burst into laughter.  
“Oh, man, Gam, that’th a _beauty,_ how long are your _fangth?_ ” Sollux piped up, chuckling as Eridan pouted.  
“Yourth are amathing, athwipe. Thut up.” Sollux remarked, giving Eridan a kiss.

Gamzee just blushed madly and buried his face in Karkat.  
The pair of them almost stumbled over to the table where Vriska handed him back the scarf.  
“Oh my god, you two, _how was it?”_ she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Karkat had never been more embarrassed in his fucking life. It was exactly like saying ‘Hey, I’m Karkat Vantas, AND I JUST FUCKED MY BEST FRIEND.’

And he enjoyed it immensely.

 

The rest of the couples gave each other their gifts, and everyone seemed to be focusing on them rather than the fact that Karkat was a kinky little bitch. So far so good.

Soon enough, the day began to grow old, and streaks of magenta and orange began to dash the blue sky with colour. Terezi had grabbed at Vriska like four times already, a sure sign of inebriation, and so they decided it was time to go home. Everyone was a little tipsy, sans Kanaya who was probably waiting until she wouldn't gross anyone out by drinking troll blood substitute.

As it came time for the gang to bid farewell, they all promised to call and text and meet up soon, each returning to their respective vehicles.

But when Karkat had left to find Gamzee, who had wandered off upon saying goodbye to everyone, he was surprised to hear Gamzee’s sweet voice floating down from atop a tree.  
“Gam?” he called, hoisting himself up until he made it to Gamzee’s branch. Gamzee was actually pretty fucking good at climbing trees, and had made it almost all the way up and into a large curving branch that allowed him to sit cross-legged against the trunk. Karkat lost himself in Gamzee’s voice and found himself surprisingly understanding of his meaning behind each verse.

 _I took a little journey to the unknown, and I come back changed I can feel it in my bones._  
_I fucked with forces our eyes can’t see_  
_Now the darkness got a hold on me._

 _How long baby have I been away?_  
_Oh, it feels like ages though you say it’s only days._  
_There ain’t language for the things I’ve seen._  
_And the truth is stranger than my own worst dreams._

 _The truth is stranger than my own worst dreams_  
_Now the darkness got a hold on me_

 _I have seen what the darkness does,_  
_Say goodbye to what I was._

 _I ain’t never been away so long_  
_Don’t look back, them days are gone._

He climbed from his own branch and into Gamzee’s lap, letting a heavy sigh escape his lips before kissing him to signal that it was okay. He was okay and he was happy to love the Gamzee he knew existed- someone who tried to move on from his own bad deeds. They had both been through a lot, and it came naturally to them as moirails-and??-matesprits to comfort each other like this. Karkat followed his matesprit’s deep indigo eyes to the spectacle before them that was the sunset. As Gamzee reached for Karkat’s hand and gripped it tight, Karkat began to sing along with him, albeit a lot quieter than Gamzee's own euphonic voice.

 _Follow me into the endless night_  
_I can bring your fears to life._  
_Show me yours and I’ll show you mine,_  
_Meet me in the woods tonight._

 _The truth is stranger than our own worst dreams_  
**_Once the darkness got a hold on me._**

 _We have seen what the darkness does,_  
_Say goodbye to who I was._  
_I ain’t never been away so long,_  
_Don’t look back them days are gone._

 _I’ll follow you into the endless night,_  
**_I can share your fears my love._**  
_Show me yours and I’ll show you mine,_  
_Meet me in the woods tonight._

He leant into Gamzee’s lanky frame and pressed his lips to the juggalo’s, earning a happy rumble from his matesprit. In return, he wrapped his long arms around Karkat and sighed. Finally, everything felt okay. Karkat was safe and happy and alive, and from the purring sounds he was emitting and his closed eyes of bliss he could tell that he was content. He was willing to love Gamzee despite the consequences. Despite the memories that had tore at his heart like vicious creatures, they were safe. Despite his own doubts and insecurities, he was alive. The terrors and turmoils both had faced in the past were not gone, and they definitely hadn't faded from memory. But despite that, they had each other.

“Love you, ‘Kar.”  
“I love you too, fuckass.”

Because in the end, they were just Gamzee and Karkat, and they were hopelessly entangled with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee's song is 'Meet me in the Woods' by Lord Huron.


End file.
